Heated Rush - Leslie Kelly [53]
But, damn it, he was. Alone. Always. And that’s the way his life had to stay.
Wasn’t it?
“I think this place is bigger than my family’s estate,” he finally muttered, staring out the windshield at the sweeping landscape below. The vibrant green hillside and valley below it were dotted with a few sheep…he’d been waiting for those fluffy buggers.
“Estate?” She chuckled, distracted from her melancholy. “Are you a pampered little rich boy?”
“Not pampered,” he clarified as he turned to see her watching him. He took no offense at her laughter. Not when she was finally relaxed, smiling, at least a bit, her eyes reflecting back the soft blue of the sky overhead.
“Should I call you Lord Murphy?”
Wouldn’t his father love that. “Nope. One of my drunkard ancestors lost the title—and half his land—by ticking off some royal or another a million years ago.”
Her jaw dropped open. She’d been joking. He hadn’t.
“Oh, wow,” she finally said, sounding stunned. “I guess I should have gotten a complete primer on you.”
That wasn’t going to happen. Not if Sean could help it.
Though, he supposed a few minor details would be smart. Especially since he’d realized this weekend might not be as easy as he’d originally thought. Not if this wealthy, small-town family had millions of reasons to be overprotective of their only girl.
“I drink tea, not coffee. Sweet, no cream,” he admitted, trying to think of what might possibly come up during the brief visit. “Dark beer only—light is for infants. Murphy’s is best, but you can never find it on tap on this continent.” Racking his brain, he added, “I went to Trinity College in Dublin, have been known to knock men unconscious on the rugby field…and I speak six languages.”
Her eyes widened in shock. “Six?”
He shrugged. “I’ve the Irish gift of the gab.” Speaking fast since they could be interrupted at any moment, he continued. “I never stay in one place for long and I have apartments in a couple of cities but not what you’d call a real home in any of them.”
“Sad,” she murmured.
Maybe to her. To Sean it was the only way he’d ever wanted to live. But he didn’t want to explain that—not now, when they had no time. And when he hadn’t yet figured out just how much he wanted Annie to know about his life.
Or how much he might be willing to change that life if he could keep her in it for just a little while longer.
Shaking off that unbelievable thought, he went back to what he was good at. Innuendo.
He smiled wickedly, letting her see the heat in his eyes. “One more important detail you should probably know—I don’t wear anything to bed.”
It worked. Annie licked her lips and raked a hungry stare over his body. The woman looked as predatory as her cat, and Sean would give just about anything to get out of here and let her devour him the way she appeared to want to. “I can’t wait to see you in your pajamas then,” she whispered.
“Naughty girl. What would the family say?”
Her unconcerned shrug answered that question as she leaned a little closer to whisper, “How many hours do we have to be here again?”
His head filling with all the things he still wanted to do with this woman, he called himself ten kinds of idiot. They’d been friendly and casual all the way down here in the car. Why, now when they were parked right outside her parents’ door, did he have to go and provoke her into reminding him of how much he wanted her? Especially given the fact that he was still reeling over the depth of connection he’d discovered between them, and the emotions that discovery had inspired.
As if she, too, suddenly regretted the bad timing, Annie cleared her throat and waved her hand in the air, dismissing the entire subject. “Forget I asked that. It’s not like I haven’t been counting down the hours since the moment we left your hotel, anyway.”
Him, too.
“Let’s take up this conversation when we get back in this car for the return trip, okay?”
“Deal.”
“Maybe,” she said, licking her